Yesteryear

In a long standing requirement for a shore-based maritime patrol/ASW aircraft first set out in 1994 Brazil’s PX program will now be filled with 12 surplus USN P-3/B Orions sourced form aircraft at AMARC Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. US State Department approval will see the Orions replace Grumman P-16 Trackers and supplement the Embraer P-95A/B used for maritime surveillance. After initial attention at AMARC the aircraft will be flown to Brazil for upgrade to a level equivalent to P-3C Update II standard.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force took delivery of the first of four Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers at Wichita, Kansas on September 10. The former USAF KC-135A was withdrawn from AMARC and updated with CFM56 engines and a Boeing developed multi-point refuelling system. The aircraft has both the normal KC-135 refuelling boom and hose together with hose and drogue units under each wing.

On September 1 the Boeing 717-200 received simultaneous joint certification from the US FAA and European JAA, the first aircraft to have been the recipient of certification under the FAA/JAA Concurrent and Co-operative Certification Program. Five test aircraft flew over 2000 hours in more than 1900 flights. On September 23 the first production aircraft, N717XD to be re-registered N949AT, was handed over to launch customer AirTran Airways at Long Beach, California.

The maiden flight of the prototype Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport C-27J, I-CERX, took place from Turin, Italy on September 25. The first of three aircraft in the test program was airborne for 1hr 32min.

25 Years Ago

A US$1billion deal involving a lease and a firm order was placed by Pan American World Airways with Airbus Industrie on September 13 for 16 A320-200s and 12 A310-300s with options up to an additional 34 A320s and 13 A310s. The airline will first lease 12 A300B4s and four A310-200s until their initial 28 aircraft are delivered during mid-1987 to 1990. It is the first sale of the A320 to a US airline.

The first three engined Dassault-Breguet Mystere-Falcon 900 19 seat executive jet, F-WIDE, had its maiden flight from Bordeaux-Merignac on September 21.

The first solo non-stop balloon flight across the North Atlantic took place during September 14-18. After a departure from Caribou, Maine, former USAF Colonel Joe Kittinger Jr took his 2860 cu m balloon *Rosie O’Grady’s Balloon of Peace** on its journey which concluded with a landing at Savona, Italy.

British Aerospace is developing the Hawk Series 200, a new low-cost single-seat combat version of the Hawk two-seat trainer at its Kingston plant. The aircraft is intended as all-weather manoeuvrable ground-attack aircraft for day or night operations. Most of the airframe will be retained and there will be provision for a single or twin gun system in the fuselage enabling external stores to be carried on the fuselage centreline.

Some of the interesting civil aircraft at Farnborough International ’84 held from September 2 to 9 were the largest and latest in the Airbus family, the A300-600 demonstrator F-WZLR, Boeing’s new 737-300 N353AU due to enter service next month with launch customer USAir, Embraer’s new commuter aircraft the EMB-120 Brazilia PT-ZZB, and an aircraft destined for Australia, the BAe 146-200 G-WAUS in Air W.A. livery. A diverse trio in Aeroflot colours were Antonov An-72 STOL transport CCCP-72000, Mil Mi-26 helicopter CCCP-06141 and Ilyushin Il-86 350 passenger airliner CCCP-86066, in the first Russian participation at Farnborough.

The sole remaining airworthy example of the Martin B-26 Marauder, owned by the Confederate Air Force, had its first flight on September 11 at Harlingen, Texas following its restoration. The aircraft is painted in the colours of the 555th Bomb Squadron, 386th BG.

50 Years Ago

The first Qantas jet service to London was operated on September 5 by Boeing 707-138, VH-EBA, *City of Melbourne** on a route from Sydney via Fiji, Honolulu, San Francisco and New York, which is an extension of the service to San Francisco.

The first powered flight of the X-15, using the second aircraft, 56-6671, took place on September 17 from Edwards AFB, California flown by Scott Crossfield. Powered by two Reaction Motors XLR11 four combustion chamber rocket engines the X-15 was tethered under the right wing of a NB-52 and carried to about 35,000ft before being dropped prior to ignition of the engines. The X-15 attained a speed of Mach 2.11 and altitude of 52,341 ft after launch.

Colonel Gunther Rall has lead a team of seven Luftwaffe pilots attending a familiarization program for the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter with the 83rd Fighter-Interceptor squadron at Hamilton AFB, California. The German pilots will take part in combat-type practice missions with the US Air Defense Command. During World War II Rall was Germany’s third ranked fighter pilot with 275 victories.

The first of 28 Martin P5M-2 Marlin maritime reconnaissance flying boats to have undertaken a modernization program has been delivered to the USN. Some of the changes are the inclusion of a Jezebel search-detection system and the Julie localization system supplying range data, a pod under the port wing housing a camera to record damage to targets during day or night operations and a searchlight under the starboard wing. The integrated equipment will enable the detection of submerged submarines.

After a continuous production run of 11 years the 5691th and last Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star two-seat trainer was delivered at the beginning of this month. A further 656 examples were built in Canada under licence by Canadair Ltd as the CL-30 Silver Star and Kawasaki built another 210 in Japan taking total production of the type to 6557. The prototype initially designated as the TF-80C first flew on March 22 1948 and the type is in service with 27 nations.

Sir Leonard Isitt, the Chairman of Tasman Empire Airways Ltd, has said the airline’s Short Solent flying boat service operated by ZK-AMO *Aranui**will continue until about July 1960 and then withdrawn from use and replaced by the new Lockheed Electra on the route from Auckland via Fiji and island groups to Tahiti.